Submerged Castle
The Submerged Castle is arguably one of the hardest and most frusturating caves found in Pikmin 2. It is located in the very back of the Perplexing Pool and is submerged in water, so you are only able to bring Blue Pikmin with you; even if you figure out you can use their water-patrolling ability to carry non-blues onto land, from where you can get them under your command and enter the cave, this will never work. It has been programmed into the game that they cannot enter the cave in any way whatsoever. All types of hazards are found here, making it imperative that you command your Blue Pikmin carefully, though there are Bulbmin to be found as well. To get all 40 Bulbmin, it's best to bring a maximum of 60 Pikmin. The worst, however, is yet to come, for the boss appears on every level, making it crucial that you complete the cave's sublevels quickly. Even more frustrating, there are three treasures on each sublevel, and the sublevels are very large. The treasures are very cheap, totaling to 690 Pokos, which makes you wonder "Why even bother?" To get to the cave, you need to defeat many Yellow Wollywogs and tear down the black gate near Glutton's Kitchen. After the gate is gone, you need to defeat two Hermit Crawmads, Water Dumples and a Withering Blowhog. The cave's entrance is surrounded by undrainable water, which is exactly why non-blue Pikmin can't enter: it was programmed so that the situation would make sense. The Submerged Castle has a dreary music unique to the cave. This music is very similar to the final dungeon music in another of Nintendo's popular games, Earthbound. Treasures *Bug Bait *Diet Doomer *Pastry Wheel *Comfort Cookie *Confection Hoop *Chocolate Cushion *Compelling Cookie *Activity Arouser (NTSC)/Pondering Emblem (PAL) *Succulent Mattress *Pale Passion *Drone Supplies (NTSC)/Open Archive (PAL) *Proton AA *Professional Noisemaker Enemies *Anode Beetle *Anode Dweevil *Bulbmin *Careening Dirigibug *Dwarf Orange Bulborb *Fiery Blowhog *Fiery Bulblax *Fiery Dweevil *Iridescent Glint Beetle *Mitite *Volatile Dweevil *Withering Blowhog *Wollywog *'Boss: Waterwraith' Strategy On sublevels 1-4, the Waterwraith will appear after a few minutes of being in the level. A few key points to remember about the Waterwraith are: #He'll steam around the level on two stone rollers, which will crush and kill any pikmin in the way, but will also kill most enemies and disable traps. Try to use this to your advantage. #He will not go into small corners or spaces, so you can hide there. #The best way to deal with him is to quickly snag all of the treasures and leave the sublevel before he appears. This means that you must NOT waste any time, so only focus on the treasures. Ignore enemies whenever possible and don't bother bringing back their carcasses. #The Waterwraith is very, very deadly to your pikmin, so it is vital that you stay out of his way. If you are careless, you could lose every one of your pikmin. #He follows your active captain, so watch out. However, you may be able to use this to your advantage, much like fighting the Ranging Bloyster. #There is absolutely no way to harm him before Sublevel 5, so don't bother trying. #Grab as many treasures as you can. Remember, if you forget to get a treasure, you can always go back and get it later. Sublevel 1 You have likely already taken note that this sublevel contains many fire hazards; keep in mind that this cave is possible. To kill the Fiery Blowhog, swarm it and blow your whistle when it shakes, then swarm it again until it is defeated. Now to killing the Fiery Bulblax. You should first find the Bulblax; once you do, throw a Pikmin onto its body. Blow your whistle once the pikmin touches the flaming body so it doesn't die but the Bulblax wakes up. Lead it into a nearby pool of water, and the second its flames are put out, use an Ultra-Bitter Spray to keep it there. Once it dies, the Bug Bait will appear, (5 weight, 15 Pokos). Search for the other two treasures, a strawberry chocolate (Diet Doomer, 5 weight, 25 Pokos) is usually in the open, as is the frosted donut (Pastry Wheel, 10 weight, 35 Pokos). Look for the hole and leave. There is also a geyser on this floor, allowing the player to escape after having found all treasures. However, there is little sense to doing so, as the Waterwraith requires a very long time on this level to appear. Sublevel 2 This area contains Careening Dirigibugs, Fiery Dweevils and Bulbmin. To ensure safety, kill the Careening Dirigibug by throwing Pikmin at it and then swarming when it falls to the ground. For the Fiery Dweevils, ignore them unless they grab a treasure you are carrying, in which case they are defeatable with your captain. The Fiery Dweevils are usually in an open, rusty pipe that is near the exit of a long pipe. Look around for an entrance of a pipe and walk inside (the Waterwraith cannot enter this area). Follow the pipe to a slide-like passageway, where you will go down quickly and fall out of the pipe, landing near the Chocolate Cushion (10 weight, 40 Pokos). Once that part of the level is complete, you can find the Bulbmin. The parent can be killed by getting close, and then throwing Pikmin onto its back. If you were to swarm it, the Mother Bulbmin would most likely get a few mouthfuls of Pikmin. Once they see their leader is dead, the smaller Bulbmin will panic and begin running around; blow your whistle to gain control of them. The game decides the amount of Bulbmin at the beginning of the sublevel depending on your Pikmin amount. Occasionally though, you might find an Ivory Candypop Bud on this sublevel and be able to get Whites. However, throwing a white at the Waterwraith does not have a different effect than any other non-purple Pikmin. A checkered chocolate cookie (Comfort Cookie, 4 weight, 10 Pokos) will come out of the parent Bulbmin once it is defeated. Finally, the Dwarf Orange Bulborbs can be killed by just swarming them the old-fashioned way. The final treasure, a plain donut (Confection Hoop, 20 weight, 60 Pokos), can be found on a ledge guarded by some Dwarf Orange Bulborbs. To get there, walk to the opposite ledge and throw pikmin over the gap and to the treasure. Throw more Pikmin over, since it is surrounded by the Bulborbs. The exit is sealed, so you will have to use pikmin to smash the rock and open the cave to the next sublevel. Continue on down. Sublevel 3 This sublevel contains electrical hazards, so take caution. Swarm the electricity generators the very second they turn off. To destroy the Anode Beetles make sure the one you are attacking isn't sparking, and throw pikmin at the top before swarming the flesh. The Withering Blowhog is killed the same way as always: throw pikmin and Bulbmin on it. The Withering Blowhog holds the lid (Activity Arouser, 15 weight, 100 Pokos), but the Bulbmin holds nothing. For Anode Dweevils, just throw Bulbmin on them, as Bulbmin are immune to all hazards. Defeat the Wollywog in the same way as you would a Yellow Wollywog. To end this short sublevel, take note that the last 2 treasures, the large chocolate checkered cookie (Succulent Mattress, 8 weight, 50 Pokos) and the swirled cookie (Compelling Cookie, 4 weight, 10 Pokos) can be anywhere in the open, usually behind a gate. The Waterwraith will likely have appeared by this time, so try to ignore it unless the strategy worked (then you can kill it) and break the exit, which is yet again covered in rocks. Sublevel 4 This floor is difficult due to the bomb-rocks and Volatile Dweevils that fall from the ceiling, and the Careening Digiribugs. Take careful steps here, and search for the Deviled Ham container (Drone Supplies, 15 weight, 130 Pokos) and the AA battery (Proton AA, 6 weight, 90 Pokos). Finally, there is an Iridescent Glint Beetle running around the place. Throw a Pikmin at it to make it to drop the white chocolate (Pale Passion, 5 weight, 25 Pokos). In order to make the path safer for your Pikmin, quickly run through the area with a single captain and detonate all the bomb-rocks and Dweevils. Finish by breaking the hole and then diving on down to the Final Floor. As a side note, it is possible for the Waterwraith to get stuck in one of the corners of this sublevel, making collecting everything a breeze, although the Wraith will still follow you to the next sublevel once you leave. Sublevel 5 (Final Floor) The Waterwraith will appear in the arena after you enter; however, it will appear in the arena by itself if you wait too long. You should have plenty of Bulbmin by this point. Start out by smashing the three gates in the starting area. Since you can't take them with you, use your Bulbmin to produce ten (more if the strategy worked) purples from the two Violet Candypop Buds. Now, smash the three eggs and use the nectar to give your Pikmin flowers. Then smash the final black gate that blocks access to the boss arena. Final Floor Battle *Name: Waterwraith *Pikmin required: Purple Pikmin *Pokos: N/A *Weight: N/A First, take note that you need Purple Pikmin to harm it. The Purple Pikmin will stun the Waterwraith and make him solid and purple. Also, it is recommended that you change the Bulbmin into Purple Pikmin, because Bulbmin cannot go overground. Anyhow, this boss will start out by falling and lifting its front steamroller. Get to the side of it as it lifts it and once it drops it, throw a purple at it - it will turn solid and purple. When it's purple you can damage it; if it doesn't become purple then call your Pikmin back and wait for your chance to throw more purples at it. Throw Pikmin rapidly at its purple body when he is solidified. Soon, it will roar a few times and turn clear again, sending your Pikmin flying. If this happens and Pikmin don't hit again fast enough, then it will roar again, so gather your Pikmin as it smashes its rocks and starts to roll around. Be sure not to get squished with the rock rollers, or those rocks could flatten your Pikmin. After repeating several times until its health circle falls to zero, you will see the rock steamrollers shatter. Now, it runs away from you. Chase it until it bends down and starts panting. There is no way you can get hurt by it, so don't hold back - unleash all your Pikmin on it. It will shake a lot still, but continue to hurt it. This is the only boss that a captain can damage. If you wait too long again, it will start running some more. When it runs out of health the following will occur: First, it looks like it was shot, for it tilts its body and bubbles start popping out. After it does that, it will shatter into many bubbles, being fully vaporized. Once defeated, the Waterwraith will drop the head of a megaphone (Professional Noisemaker, 15 Weight, 100 Pokos, part of the Exploration Kit). This gives you a device called the Pluckaphone, which allows you to pluck Pikmin sprouts from the ground just by whistling at them. Alternative Strategy If you are having problems collecting all treasures in each sublevel before the Waterwraith appears, reset the game until the treasure locations for at least one is favourable. Collect one treasure from each sublevel as you go down, and defeat the boss, then re-enter the cave and collect the remaining treasures in a similar fashion - the Waterwraith will appear on both trips, though. This is only recommended if you are finding the normal route too challenging. Trivia The cavern contains 13 treasures, a famously unlucky number; this appears to be intended to reflect the cave's nature, and especially that of its boss. Category:Forums